National Journal: Hillary resets on Russia

posted at 10:01 am on March 17, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

How badly has Barack Obama bungled Russia and Vladimir Putin? Even the woman who created the embarrassing “reset button” fiasco has started to distance herself from the White House. National Journal’s Michael Hirsh belatedly comments on Hillary Clinton’s stunning equivalency between Putin and 1938, and its reflection of a clueless foreign policy that she herself initiated:

In recent weeks, as the standoff over Ukraine escalated, Hillary Clinton did something that she never did as secretary of State: She put considerable distance between herself and the president she served loyally for four years. While Barack Obama cautiously warned Vladimir Putin to back off his claims on Ukraine, Clinton rolled out a rhetorical cannon, comparing the Russian president’s moves to the seizure of territory by Adolf Hitler that set off World War II. Her comments were so harsh and controversial that she was forced to walk them back a bit, saying, “I’m not making a comparison, certainly, but I am recommending that we perhaps can learn from this tactic that has been used before.”

Clinton’s remarks appeared to be an indication of two things. One, she’s concerned enough about shoring up her reputation for toughness that she may indeed be thinking about running for president in 2016. Clinton offered up, in other words, a rare and enticing hint about the question that everyone in the politics game is asking these days. Undoubtedly she knows that the effort she led as secretary of State in 2009, an attempted “reset” of relations with Russia that included a new arms treaty, now looks naive in the face of Putin’s repudiation of Obama over Ukraine and his lack of cooperation on other issues, such as resolution of the Syrian civil war. Two, Clinton could be worried that by the time the next presidential season rolls around, what was once seen as one of Obama’s stronger points—foreign policy—could easily become a liability to whomever is seeking the Democratic nomination.

The reset button wasn’t the only fiasco, though. The Obama administration policies in reaction to the Arab Spring were every bit as clueless, and more deadly to Americans. Hirsh notes that the Benghazi attack came too late in the cycle to impact the election, but that won’t be the case in 2016. That attack came as a direct result of American policies leaving a failed state in Libya through decapitation of the Qaddafi regime and then a refusal to admit the policies’ failure. When every other Western nation had left Benghazi, Hillary’s State Department not only remained but cut security presence.

Now Hillary wants to be seen as tougher than Obama, but that’s rather laughable. This disaster has its roots firmly in the Hillary era at State, especially with that mistranslated reset button that tried to blame Russian aggression on the Bush administration. She owns this foreign policy no matter how hard she tries to distance herself from it.

Clinton isn’t the only one drawing parallels to 1938, either. Russian dissident Garry Kasparov warned yesterday in Politico Magazine that the Western response to Putin looks very, very familiar:

It’s been a busy few weeks for Vladimir Putin. In the last month, the Russian president has hosted the Olympic Games, invaded a neighboring country and massed troops along its border. Back in Moscow, the Kremlin has cranked up the volume of hysterical anti-Western propaganda to a roar while cracking down on the last vestiges of the free media. All the while, he proclaims he wants peace and accuses Western leaders of hypocrisy and anti-Russian sentiment. If Putin wanted to do a better imitation of Adolf Hitler circa 1936-1938, he would have to grow a little mustache. Equally troubling is that the leaders of Europe and the United States have been doing a similarly good impersonation of the weak-kneed and risk-averse leaders who enabled Hitler’s rise in the 1930s.

I know full well that any mention of the maniacal Nazi leader is viewed as being in poor taste by many. The good news is that it took many years for the West to finally admit that Putin is a dictator and only a few weeks for respected public figures such as Hillary Clinton to acknowledge how closely he is following in Hitler’s footsteps right now. Nobody except the most naked of Kremlin apologists is debating whether Putin’s anything but a tyrant anymore. Instead, we’re searching for the right historical analogy: Is it Budapest 1956? Prague 1968? Austria 1938?

To which I say: Welcome to the club! It remains to be seen, however, if the media figures and politicians who have so quickly adopted my Anschluss rhetoric are willing and able to do what is necessary to stop repeating the past. In recent days, the United States and several European governments have bolstered their statements, which will, I hope, now be followed up with strong sanctions and other steps to ostracize and deter Putin.

Three years ago, France signed a military contract worth $1.7 billion to build two advanced-technology Mistral-class helicopter carriers for Russia, with an option to build two more. The first carrier, Vladivostok, conducted its sea trials earlier this month and is set to arrive in Moscow later this year. A Russian crew is already being trained on the ship, currently berthed in the French port of Saint-Nazaire. A sister ship, Sebastopol — ironically named after the chief port of Crimea — is set for delivery to the Russian navy late in 2015.

Then–French president Nicolas Sarkozy signed the deal for the carriers in 2011, hailing the agreement as evidence that the Cold War had indeed ended. But the contract alarmed several of France’s NATO allies, especially because Russia had employed helicopter gunships in its brief war against Georgia in 2008.

In light of Russia’s latest aggression, defense and foreign-policy experts, gathered in Paris for a Gatestone Institute conference, agree that it would be impossible to take the West seriously if it turned over a weapon uniquely suited for close-in military commando operations such as the ones that Russia used to occupy Crimea. Stopping delivery of the carrier isn’t a private-property issue, either, given that the French government owns 75 percent of DCNS, the French shipbuilder.

French officials have been reluctant to discuss the carrier contract, telling me that they have no comment. When asked last Friday at a news conference about the carrier contract, President Hollande replied, “As far as other sanctions, notably military cooperation, that is the third level of sanctions.” But as recently as a March 7 news conference (more than a week after Russia’s invasion of Crimea), Hollande appeared unwilling to touch the issue. …

What respect could the Russians possibly have for the West if France actually delivers sophisticated helicopter carriers that can ferry the Spetsnaz, the Russian military’s elite commando forces, to the next target of Russia’s choosing?

Not much. Perhaps Sergei Lavrov can head off sanctions by offering Obama another “reset button.”

Speaking at the Global Education & Skills Forum 2014 in Dubai, Clinton conceded that the result of the ‘phoney’ Crimea referendum aligning it with Russia was historically correct.

He said: “Crimea is a special case because Krushchev gave it to Ukraine in ’52 thinking Moscow would always run the whole show.”

But Mr Clinton denounced the recent vote in Crimea as an “unconstitutional farce. [Putin's] storyline that he has created that these poor Russians are being crushed by these ultranationalist Ukrainians, is just not so.”

The former US president revealed that in private Vladmir Putin was a straight-talker. “You can normally work with someone like that, and I just hope and pray that this thing is not going to spin out of hand because Ukraine is an important country. All [the Ukrainians] wanted was the right to determine their own future and they should have it.”

Breaking on Hot Air

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Trackbacks/Pings

Comments

Now Hillary wants to be seen as tougher than Obama, but that’s rather laughable. This disaster has its roots firmly in the Hillary era at State, especially with that mistranslated reset button that tried to blame Russian aggression on the Bush administration. She owns this foreign policy no matter how hard she tries to distance herself from it.

So what’s Obama going to do today? Well, he’s going to be campaigning for his failed healthcare plan by attaching it to the NCAA March Madness.

Citing the popularity of college basketball during the tournament season known as March Madness, White House senior communications adviser Tara McGuinness said, “We’re putting on a full-court press to remind our fellow fans that there are two weeks left to sign up for quality, affordable health insurance.”

On Monday, Obama — who is planning to release his annual NCAA tournament picks this week — will be interviewed by the Univision Radio program Locura Deportiva (“Sports Madness”). That session tips off a string of interviews with administration officials seeking to sell the health care plan

the “inevitable” Hillary can run on her “reset”. And she can run on the on her other State achievements, Benghazi, and the rest of the whole “Arab Spring” … especially as relates to Syria. And there’ll be plenty of opportunities to get real specific about Obamacare since all those mandate deferrals will be expiring just as she goes into campaign mode.

Or maybe she’ll just focus on her accomplishments during her brief tenure as junior Senator from New York.

It’s been a busy few weeks for Vladimir Putin. In the last month, the Russian president has hosted the Olympic Games, invaded a neighboring country and massed troops along its border. Back in Moscow, the Kremlin has cranked up the volume of hysterical anti-Western propaganda to a roar while cracking down on the last vestiges of the free media.

I watched a show on Cable this weekend called World War 2 in color and it is striking how much this looks like the run up to WW2.

The reset button wasn’t the only fiasco, though. The Obama administration policies in reaction to the Arab Spring were every bit as clueless, and more deadly to Americans.

Now Hillary wants to be seen as tougher than Obama, but that’s rather laughable. This disaster has its roots firmly in the Hillary era at State, especially with that mistranslated reset button that tried to blame Russian aggression on the Bush administration. She owns this foreign policy no matter how hard she tries to distance herself from it.

When one’s ‘world view’ is as fundamentally flawed as that of Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, the foreign policy they advocate will be little more than naive, feckless, ineffective, and down right dangerous.

Despite the media’s love affair for all things Clinton and progressive – her tenure as SecState in the feckless Obama Administration, culminating with the murder of the US Ambassador to Libya and the resulting cover-up, clearly disqualifies Hillary for any elected office beyond that of dog catcher.

The closest historical analogy to the Russian seizure of Crimea isn’t Sudetenland- it’s the 1974 invasion of Cyprus by NATO member Turkey (which was also in response to a coup). Except that nobody’s been killed in Crimea.

“You’ve gone too far this time”
But I’m dancing on the valentine
I tell you somebody’s fooling around
With my chances on the dangerline
I’ll cross that bridge when I find it
Another day to make my stand
High time is no time for deciding
If I should find a helping hand

[CHORUS]
So why don’t you use it?
Try not to bruise it
Buy time don’t lose it
The reset is an only child he’s waiting in the park
The reset is in charge of finding treasure in the dark
And watching over lucky clover isn’t that bizarre
Every little thing the reset does
Leaves you answered with a question mark

Comrade @BarackObama, what should do those who have neither accounts nor property abroad? Or U didn’t think about it?)http://bit.ly/1ebMXDM

Another text…Translated: “I think some joker wrote Obama’s executive order.”

Moments ago we listed the Russian Putin “advisors” impacted by the latest Obama executive order freezing those assets over which the US has access. Among them was deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Russia’s ambassador to NATO. As a reminder, in 2011 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Dmitry Rogozin as a Special Representative on anti-missile defence and negotiations with NATO countries on this issue. On 23 December 2011 Dmitry Rogozin was appointed deputy premier of Russian Government in charge of defense and space industry. As responsible for the defense industry he leads the creation of the Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects in the Defense Industry (Russian DARPA). Moments ago Rogozin replied to Putin’s “freezing” of his, among other, assets.

“Moments ago we listed the Russian Putin “advisors” impacted by the latest Obama executive order freezing those assets over which the US has access. Among them was deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Russia’s ambassador to NATO. As a reminder, in 2011 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Dmitry Rogozin as a Special Representative on anti-missile defence and negotiations with NATO countries on this issue. On 23 December 2011 Dmitry Rogozin was appointed deputy premier of Russian Government in charge of defense and space industry. As responsible for the defense industry he leads the creation of the Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects in the Defense Industry (Russian DARPA). Moments ago Rogozin replied to Putin’s “freezing” of his, among other, assets…

Dmitry Rogozin @DRogozin
Follow
Comrade @BarackObama, what should do those who have neither accounts nor property abroad? Or U didn’t think about it?)http://bit.ly/1ebMXDM

Which, as reported on Friday, probably is the case for many Russians oligarchs, who were expecting this move by Obama long ago. Worst case, a whole lot of New York City duplex penthouses are about to hit the market.

One, she’s concerned enough about shoring up her reputation for toughness that she may indeed be thinking about running for president in 2016.

But, that reputation is a problem with the Democratic base, who already thinks Hillary is too much of a warmonger and interventionist because, for example, she voted for the Iraq war. And, while the Clinton Democrats may claim that she voted for the war based on the ‘lies’ told by Bush, et al, she made it quite clear that she used the information she gleaned during her husband’s administration to make her final determination.

This is one of the reasons that the Left has been calling for a primary challenge to Clinton in the form of a Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.

Two, Clinton could be worried that by the time the next presidential season rolls around, what was once seen as one of Obama’s stronger points—foreign policy—could easily become a liability to whomever is seeking the Democratic nomination.

WHAAAT!?!

Seen by whom? For what? US relations have improved where? The Middle East, Latin America, the UK? Canada? WHERE???

“While the comments by Russian presidential advisor, Sergei Glazyev, came before Putin’s detente press conference early this morning, they did flash a red light of warning as to what Russian response may be should the west indeed proceed with “crippling” sanctions as Kerry is demanding. As RIA reports, his advice is that “authorities should dump US government bonds in the event of Russian companies and individuals being targeted by sanctions over events in Ukraine.” Glazyev said the United States would be the first to suffer in the event of any sanctions regime.

“The Americans are threatening Russia with sanctions and pulling the EU into a trade and economic war with Russia,” Glazyev said. “Most of the sanctions against Russia will bring harm to the United States itself, because as far as trade relations with the United States go, we don’t depend on them in any way.”

From RIA:

“We hold a decent amount of treasury bonds – more than $200 billion – and if the United States dares to freeze accounts of Russian businesses and citizens, we can no longer view America as a reliable partner,” he said. “We will encourage everybody to dump US Treasury bonds, get rid of dollars as an unreliable currency and leave the US market.”
…

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday warned that Russian military interventions in Ukraine, which have been justified by the Kremlin as protection for residents in heavily ethnic Russian-populated regions, could result in “serious repercussions” for Moscow.
“Unless immediate and concrete steps are taken by Russia to deescalate tensions, the effect on US-Russian relations and on Russia’s international standing will be profound,” Kerry said.

Former deputy energy minister and lively government critic Vladimir Milov slammed Glazyev’s remarks, saying they would put further downward pressure on the ruble, which was pushed down Monday to a record low of 36.5 against the dollar amid fears about the possible outbreak of war.

“That idiot Glazyev will keep talking until the dollar is worth 60 [rubles],” Milov wrote on his Twitter account.

To be sure, a high-ranking Kremlin source was quick to distance his office from Glazyev’s remarks, however, insisting to RIA Novosti that they represented only his personal position. Glazyev was just expressing his views as an academic, and not as a presidential adviser, the Kremlin insider said.

That said, putting Russia’s threat in context, the Federation held $138.6 billion in US Treasurys as of December according to the latest TIC data, making it the 11th largest creditor of the US, which appears to conflict with what the Russian said, making one wonder where there is a disconnect in “data.” This would mean the Fed would need just two months of POMO to gobble up whatever bonds Russia has to sell.

The bigger question is if indeed, as some have suggested, China were to ally with Russia, and proceed to follow Russia in its reciprocal isolation of the US, by expanding trade with Russia on non-USD based terms, and also continue selling bonds as it did in December, when as we reported previously it dumped the second largest amount of US paper in history.

… especially when one considers the latest news released by the Kremlin:

Despite no move in gold, silver, or US Treasuries, US equities (and JPY crosses) remain bid. But perhaps the most intriguing reaction to Obama’s escalation is the surge higher in Russian stocks and rally in the Ruble… Putin and his oligarch friends must be pleased…

In light of Russia’s latest aggression, defense and foreign-policy experts, gathered in Paris for a Gatestone Institute conference, agree that it would be impossible to take the West seriously if it turned over a weapon uniquely suited for close-in military commando operations such as the ones that Russia used to occupy Crimea. Stopping delivery of the carrier isn’t a private-property issue, either, given that the French government owns 75 percent of DCNS, the French shipbuilder.

Un-Frenchin’-believable!!!

What the French government SHOULD be doing is holding that Russian crew hostage, and tell Putin he’ll get his guys back when his troops retreat from Crimea.

But don’t expect Francois Hollande to rock the boat. The labor unions in Saint-Nazaire, on the estuary of the Loire River, are notoriously pro-Communist, and Hollande needs their votes.

I will repeat these two items until I’m blue in the face from now until that woman is finally dismissed from the public stage:

1) Dodging bullets over the tarmac in Bosnia
2) Chelsea was running near the WTC towers on 9-11

A person who makes up stupid shit like this is a mental case. End of discussion.

dpduq on March 17, 2014 at 10:40 AM

I think you should add her claim to have been named Hillary after the famous New Zealand explorer Sir Edmund Hillary. Of course she was born in 1947 and Sir Edmund didn’t become famous until 1953. It must be damaging to one’s ego to have been called “the girl” for nearly six years.

I reject your entire premise because it is based on selective information and very limited insight.

Hillary Clinton fully embraced and owned the foreign policy which lead to this disaster. Period. Full stop.

She never disagreed with the diplomacy until it became politically opportunistic to do so.

It was a lack of wisdom, foresight and weakness which were the key ingredients here. That was a recipe for disaster and the Ukraine is simply the final, baked product.

Ms. Clinton has not changed in that regard. Go back and read the speeches, policies and diplomacy during her tenure.

I am growing a bit weary of Hillary trying to on one hand claim her lengthy experience qualifiers her for higher office (which in itself is nonsense) and on the other abdicating any responsibility for its affects because she is no longer Secretary.
We call that dishonest duplicity.

After eight years of the great Black American Experiment, this country can’t take the great Female Experiment in the White House. If it goes that way, we will then have the great Smart Latino Experiment, the great LGBTQWTF Experiment and then the great New Male President Marrying Ten Year Old Boy Experiment.

Discussing President Carter’s foreign policy, he compliments the former President’s “Very tough stands on human rights.” President Obama, however, he gives lower marks. In response to another tweeter, he writes that when it comes to the crisis in Ukraine, “so far, Carter looks like Churchill in comparison.”

I’m interested to see if Obozo will now be a good party shill and take all the blame in order to help Hillary look like the best option for 2016? Will he, or more accurately CAN he allow his legacy to take the blame for these foreign policy (and domestic and social as well actually) failures for the good of the party?

My guess is that he is far too arrogant and prideful to take the blame as his track record of throwing associates under busses at the first sign of trouble has shown.

Clinton could be worried that by the time the next presidential season rolls around, what was once seen as one of Obama’s stronger points—foreign policy—could easily become a liability to whomever is seeking the Democratic nomination.

Who, exactly, ever thought foreign policy was one of Obama’s “stronger points”? The same dipshits who can’t understand why international conflict didn’t come to its natural ending after the first post-American president signaled the end of American aggression and oppression with a bowing and scraping apology tour of the world’s tyrannies?

I’m not aware of anyone whose foreign policy “expertise” isn’t anchored in delusional leftist dogma who has had anything positive to say about Obama’s disastrous bumbling on the international stage. The fool knows nothing about how the world works, having refused to study history and replaced it’s lessons with the Marxist template of ’60s Maoists like Bill Ayers (and his own mother). He and his crew of leftist tools are still struggling to understand why none of his gambits bring the expected results. If the cognitive dissonance gets any greater, Samantha Powers’ head may explode.

We won’t impose stiffer sanctions because Russia has us by the long johns in Afghanistan.

Step 1: Get out of Afghanistan so we don’t need to rely on the Russians for jack. Afghanistan is a bigger problem for Russia anyway, despite 9-11 which was caused by the Arabians and Pakistanis who basically are the chief funders and supplies of all Sunni jihadist groups in the world.

Step 2: Step up military arms sales to Eastern Europe, including the missile defense shield in Poland.

Step 3: Release the energy Kraken.

Step 4: Mess with their currency.

All those would put pressure on Russia and force them back to being “reasonable”.

Obama won’t do steps Nos. 2-4 and certain Republicans don’t want to do step No. 1. So basically we are “bleep”…..

In terms of population decline (a very low or negative replacement rate), Russia is one of the sorriest countries around the globe, so how potent will they be? Seems that they’ll always have secession movements, terrorism threats and/or internal strife, all of which might just sap their presumed strength. I’m not saying they can’t cause trouble with their own people or neighboring states, it’s just that I could see them coming quickly to a point where they implode (again) and disappear as a force to be reckoned with. The right kind of push and some solidarity from the West could be just the ticket to get us to that point sooner, but that may have to wait until Nov 2016 – Jan 2017.